Debate preview: What Joe Biden needs to accomplish tonight

But in the aftermath of President Obama’s disastrous performance in last Wednesday night’s first presidential debate, which helped Republican Mitt Romney erase the Democratic incumbent’s yearlong lead in the polls, “the stakes in Thursday night’s debate are astronomical for both candidates,” notes University of Michigan debate director Aaron Kall.

Here’s what Vice President Joe Biden needs to do during their encounter at Centre College in Danville, Ky.:

1. Stop the bleeding.

Before the first debate, the Obama-Biden ticket was leading in the RealClearPolitics poll index by an average of 4 percentage points. Tuesday, for the first time in 2012, Romney and Ryan took the lead. “Obama didn’t just hurt himself, he hurt the brand,” said independent pollster John Zogby. “There’s a lot of pressure on Biden. He has to get them back on track because they’re bleeding now.”

Vice President Joe Biden (AFP photo)

2. Attack, attack, attack! (But in a systematic way.)

Obama found himself on the defensive from the first moments of the first debate. His running mate must seize the offensive and relentlessly critique Ryan’s record as chairman of the House Budget Committee and Team Romney’s economic and foreign policy proposals. “It’s the vice presidential candidate’s role to go out and attack the other side,” said Sherri Greenberg, director of the Center for Politics and Governance at the University of Texas’ Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. One cautionary note: It’s possible to be too aggressive. (Examples: Al Gore invading George W. Bush’s space at their first debate in 2000. Or Jimmy Carter’s serial attacks on Ronald Reagan in 1980, ending with Reagan’s retort, “there you go again.”)

3. Win the budget/tax battle.

Biden needs to convince average Americans that Ryan’s past support for cuts in middle-class entitlements such as college financial aid and eldercare could hurt them personally. “Biden wants to remind people of the Ryan budget and the impact on their lives,” said American University political communication professor Dotty Lynch, “especially if Medicare is changed and government programs like Medicaid and student loans are cut.”

4. Look like the only grown-up on the stage on international issues.

Joe Biden has been a player on foreign policy issues since Paul Ryan was, well, three years old. The vice president needs to use his knowledge and record, as senator and vice president, to his advantage. “He will challenge Ryan on his lack of experience and also criticize Romney,” said Jim Granato, director of the Hobby Center for Public Affairs at the University of Houston.

5. Don’t be a bully.

It’s fine to be Fightin’ Joe, champion of the middle class. It’s not OK to be Mr. McNasty or Mr. McDirty. Americans don’t mind some tough, substantive exchanges. But personal attacks or relentless negativism could backfire and make Ryan a more sympathetic figure.

6. Don’t commit a major gaffe that will dominate the headlines whatever else happens in the debate.

Republicans are quick to note that Joe Biden is a human gaffe machine. He can terrify his handlers by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. A whopper during Thursday’s big showdown would definitely be the wrong time. “Joe Biden must be ‘gaffe-free’ and aggressive,” said Steven E. Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College. “His job is to reveal the shortcomings of the Romney-Ryan approach far more clearly than the president did in his first debate.”